Inside Apple's 2011: iOS, Apps & iCloud

This year, Apple hit a new milestone of 250 million iOS devices while shipping its fifth reference release of its mobile platform that now offers a library of half of a million apps that have seen 18 billion downloads, now automated via iCloud.

Unlike its competitors, however, Apple actually delivers its regular, free iOS updates to the majority of the installed base frequently and on a timely basis. Within 2011, Apple shipped a dozen free updates for its mobile iOS platform before releasing iOS 5 in October and a followup 5.0.1 update. Those releases were made available to all iOS users the same day (apart from one release specific to the Verizon CDMA iPhone).

In comparison, Google released three updates to its summer 2010 Android 2.2 Froyo; five updates to last year's winter Android 2.3 Gingerbread; five releases exclusive to Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablets, and three updates of the new Android 4.0 (which currently only works on its own Galaxy Nexus model, and won't be rolled out to other 2011 model year devices for months--and is very unlikely to ever become available for phones over a year old).

Android device manufacturers and their mobile carriers were hesitant to actually make Google's updates available to their users however, as few of the updates were substantial enough to warrant the complex texting and specialized work needed to make the generic Android code work on the scores of different Android models, leaving the Android platform fractionalized with (at the start of December) 47 percent of active Android Market smartphone users still on an early-2010 version of Android (equivalent to iOS 3).

Google is not just failing to make as many updates available, but its "open" Android ecosystem is actually preventing updates that are released from making their way to users. Further, vendors and carriers are adding their own software on top of Android that has been found to open up security flaws and allow malware to bypass the permissions controls Google invented to let users protect themselves from the inherently dangerous nature of the unmanaged library of apps it makes available in its Android Market.

Microsoft, RIM, Nokia and HP combined released fewer updates for their users than Apple, and of those, only Microsoft bothered to make its updates broadly available to the entire installed base. Of course, Microsoft also erased backward support for all Windows Mobile 6.x devices at the end of last year when it introduced its Windows Phone 7 successor, leaving it with a very limited number of users to address.

iOS' pace of progress in 2011

Apple's 2011 releases of iOS kicked off to support the new CDMA iPhone 4 for Verizon in February, followed by the iOS 4.3 release in March that was introduced alongside iPad 2. Rather than just adding support for the new model, however, that update introduced significant new features ranging from AirPlay video support for third party apps, a much faster Nitro JavaScript engine for Safari, enhanced video playback "scrubber" controls, support for streaming content from a local PC via iTunes Home Sharing, "Personal Hotspot" WiFi tethering on the iPhone, and new FaceTime support for the iPod touch and iPad 2.

In addition to releasing system software, Apple also introduced new iOS apps, including the free PhotoBooth for iPad 2 and the iLife apps GarageBand and iMovie, initially released with iPad 2 and later made available for iPhone and iPod touch users in the fall. Apple similarly made its iWork suite of Pages, Keynote and Numbers iOS apps, initially released alongside the original iPad in 2010, available for iPhone and iPod touch users in May.

Apple also introduced some controversy-arousing new policies for its App Store this year, including rules that prevent apps from linking to external purchase options (such as for in app content or subscriptions) without providing an alternative way for users to also buy the same thing through the App Store.

Apple also rankled some publishers with new subscription policies that allowed the user to decide whether wanted to share his or her personal information with the publisher when subscribing through the App Store. Despite initial fears that subscribers would mostly opt out, it was later reported that "fear that Apples policies would deny them the consumer data they need to do business was unfounded."

A third tempest in a teapot for iOS in 2011 was the Locationgate crisis, kicked off by two researchers who discovered a database of location information on the iPhone that appeared to map a path of where users had taken their device. The matter ended up being the subject of a federal investigation. Steve Jobs addressed the issue personally, explaining the issues involved to users in a public statement that mirrored the "Antenangate" brouhaha of 2010.

Jobs outlined how iOS had pioneered the safeguarding of location data from third party apps, requiring user permissions and offering users control over how their location data is used in a way unmatched by other vendors. He also promised updates in iOS and iTunes to better handle how location data was cached.

On page 2 of 2: iOS 5

iOS 5
In October, Apple released iOS 5.0, which introduced a new Notifications Center for managing alerts; added direct iMessage support for devices that enabled WiFi-only devices to send and receive text messages; added a Newsstand app for managing and delivering subscription content; incorporated a Reminders app for working with To-Do and location-based events; added system-wide integration with Twitter; enhanced Safari with support for Private Browsing, Reader and Reading List features; added "PC-free" setup and support for editing photos, playlists and other features that previously required computer support as well as new support for iCloud, enabling downloads of previously purchased iTunes content and apps, WiFi sync, and over the air device backups and software updates.

iCloud also introduced a new cloud Documents & Data feature Apple supported initially in its own iOS iWork apps and within its online web apps, as well as a Photo Stream feature for pictures that is supported on both iOS devices and on the Mac desktop with iPhoto or Aperture. The service also enhanced the former MobileMe "Find my iPhone" service with new support for finding both registered desktop Macs and other users using the new Find My Friends app.

Apple also brought features of iOS 5 to Apple TV in a 4.4 software release, including support for wireless AirPlay video mirroring with iPad 2 and iPhone 4S, iCloud connected Photo Streams, and inclusion of its own Trailers app and new NHL and Wall Street Journal apps, stopping short of opening a full App Store for third party Apple TV software.

Apple also added a key new iOS feature in Siri, although it reserved the functionality exclusively for its high end new iPhone 4S. While giving the iPhone 4S the ability to dictate voice to text similar to features that have been added to Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 and Google's Android for some time, Siri goes far beyond basic voice recognition to deliver an intuitive voice-based interface to the device's calendar, maps, contacts, messaging features, reminders, stocks and weather apps, and enables sophisticated replies regarding local search from Yelp and general knowledge and research answers from Wolfram Alpha.

Siri was hardly a secret development, given that Apple had acquired the project last year and its app interface had already been made publicly available, albeit in a limited feature set. However, Siri's polished functionality as a helpful and at times witty personal assistant served as both a key marketing feature of iPhone 4S and, analysts have since reported, a primary driver for sales.

Top mobile platform managers of Microsoft and Google were both quick to downplay Siri as a competitive threat, with Microsoft's head of WP7 Andy Lees saying that he didn't think Siri was "super useful," while Google's senior vice president of mobile Andy Rubin said in an interview that he doesn't "believe that your phone should be an assistant," adding that "your phone is a tool for communicating. You shouldnt be communicating with the phone; you should be communicating with somebody on the other side of the phone."

However, Google's chairman Eric Schmidt later described Apple's Siri feature as a "significant development" as he told a U.S. Senate antitrust subcommittee that it was an example of healthy competition in the search business, going so far as to cite independent publications that described Siri as a "Google killer" because it cuts the company out of search and paid ad placement revenue.

One month later, Google and Microsoft were insisting that they were actually ahead of Apple in voice features and had better future plans, despite clearly being behind Siri in the accuracy and voice capabilities they offer.

On page 3 of 3: Apple's iOS competition

Apple's iOS competition

In contrast to iOS 5, Microsoft and Google lack more than just Siri. They also lack the installed base of users on the same platform, with Google boasting more smartphone users than Apple but only a tiny fraction of the app sales, despite a store that now claims a huge portfolio of software. Google has no significant first party apps on the order of Apple's iLife and iWork suites, focusing instead upon selling what are essentially web app features of its online, ad supported features like Maps and local search. Android is also lacking significant third party development because of rampant piracy, while malware distribution becomes an increasingly large problem for users.

Microsoft offers a curated mobile software store like Apple's with similarly strong security features and rigid platform management to avoid fragmentation, but it lacks a fraction of Apple's installed base of users and developers, failing to reach a sustainable critical mass necessary to make Windows Phone 7 a credible platform for developers or users who want to buy apps and games.

Outside of smartphones, fragmentation of Android has completely derailed Google's efforts to push Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablets, with the only Android-based tablets seeing any interest in the market being ones that use a customized version of a year old release of Android 2.x that can't run anything other than stretched smartphone apps. Microsoft's tablet plans are still at least a year away, and tied to a layer of web apps running on its Windows 8 platform rather than being part of the Silverlight-based Windows Phone 7 platform.

Apple's iOS impact in 2011 wasn't limited to tablets and smartphone apps, however. The company's mobile platform also made a huge dent in portable gaming, blunting the launch of new devices by Sony and Nintendo and changing how even console game developers and entertainment producers such as Disney plan to deliver games in the future. Apple even disrupted its own "digital hub" model introduced by Jobs a decade ago, when Jobs introduced iCloud as a new hub for devices, apps, data, documents and content.

Apple even modified its desktop Mac platform to incorporate successful elements of iOS, including its App Store, a Full Screen focus for apps and expanded support for multitouch gestures in the interface. When Jobs introduced the iPhone nearly five years ago, he noted that it was running "OS X," something that was widely reported to be false at the time. It turned out that Apple had actually ported Mac OS X to ARM and customized and optimized the software for mobile use. Apple later referred to the software as "iPhone OS" and eventually branded it "iOS."

There was still far more similarity between iOS and Mac OS X (in terms of code, technology, development tools, API, and so on) and Microsoft's Windows/Windows Mobile, and between the company's stated plans for Windows 8 PCs and Windows 8 ARM-based tablet devices, and certainly between Google's Android and Chrome OS. Apple's use of "iOS" is simply an arbitrary marketing distinction. iOS devices are mobile Macs.

Just as viewing all iOS devices as "iPods" dramatically shifts the picture of iPod history, viewing iOS devices as mobile Macs presents a very accurate picture of where Apple has taken its NeXT-derived platform over the past decade. While Apple has gone from selling around a million Macs per quarter five years ago to selling nearly 5 million per quarter today, it has actually expanded the Mac platform to a portfolio of mobile devices that sells 40 million units per quarter.

This reality has so disgusted firms like Gartner and IDC that they've had to begin counting Apple's sales under new rules that silo unit sales into separate bins, rather than counting everything with similarly branded software under the same total, as they did for years with Microsoft. So, for example, the iPad isn't a PC but Tablet PCs are; and the iPod touch isn't a tablet but Android oversized smartphones are. At the same time, other market research groups are desperately trying to slice Apple's iOS into chunks so they can compare the company's sales against all smartphone vendors using Google's Android.

Both efforts to present Apple's product sales in the most unflattering light possible fail to take into consideration the supportive role that all of Apple's Darwin-based product play for each other. A major factor in the successful launch of the iOS App Store, for example, was that the development tools it used were already well documented, mature and proven, because they had already been refined for years on the Mac. The iPad's software ecosystem was similarly aided by its commonality with the iPhone, and Apple's sales of the iPod touch afforded the iPhone a larger installed base of users than had Apple only been trying to sell the iPhone. Android and Windows Phone 7 not only lack a competitor to the iPad, but they are also missing any significant iPod touch.

Combined with Apple's strength in retail and operations, the company's iOS-powered unit sales combined with its Mac desktop platform indicate a high bar for would be competitors who want to challenge its unified computing platform. Throughout 2011, Apple did more than just deliver Macs, iOS devices and new software to run them. The next segment will review Apple's other challenges and accomplishments as a company over the past year.

In comparison, Google released three updates to its summer 2010 Android 2.2 Froyo; five updates to last year's winter Android 2.3 Gingerbread; five releases exclusive to Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablets, and three updates of the new Android 4.0 (which currently only works on its own Galaxy Nexus model, and won't be rolled out to other 2011 model year devices for months--and is very unlikely to ever become available for phones over a year old).

Correction the GSM Nexus S also runs it officially. Both over a year old and got it within one month of the code drop.

Correction the GSM Nexus S also runs it officially. Both over a year old and got it within one month of the code drop.

False: Android 4.0 updates to the Nexus S have been held up over technical issues. It wasn't made available right away, and isn't currently available. Also, it was originally released in the US mid Dec 2010, so describing it as "over a year old" is rather disingenuous.

It's insane that the Nexus S wouldn't get the next version of Android, which is the point. The absolute best case scenario (Google's own phone!!! Just turned 1 and only half way through its contract period!!!) and it still doesn't have ICS.

Everyone else is SOL, including the Nexus One and Samsung Galaxy S (which the company said it had sold 10 million of in 2010). This kind of customer-hating record is so pathetic it begs why someone would desperately try to offer up excuses for such incompetence.

Android fans just take the abuse and ask for more as they throw money at overpriced, imitative devices packed with proprietary software they call "open." It's like Apple fans, but stupider, lacking any class or basic reasoning skills, armed with far lower expectations, and a delusional self importance for supporting East Asian slave labor corporations that have no environment record or concern for human rights. Apparently all because it has a green robot on it.

Correction the GSM Nexus S also runs it officially. Both over a year old and got it within one month of the code drop.

The Android market is such a mess, I helped a college at work shop for smartphones, he doesn't want anything Apple because he thinks it too expensive, so I did research on android phones. From what I can see android 4.0 is really worth it but the only phone we could find was the Samsung Nexus which is sold at 160$, the same price has the iPhone 4s.

So we found the Galaxy II s at 0$ (special) and everything was set until another college at work who had one told him it didn't work well. I then did more research and found out the upgrade path from 2.3 to 4.0 was pretty blur, with no one knowing exactly when it would happen if at all, depending on models.

The co-worker need to buy 5 phones for all his family, so being able to get some at 0$ is a must. He went off for the holidays, can't wait to see what he did. He was thinking of maybe getting the iPhone 3 GS after all. The iPhone 4 16g was on sale at 0$ on boxing day too.

About the article, I am really curious to see the future impact of windows 8 on the mobile market.

The Android market is such a mess, I helped a college at work shop for smartphones, he doesn't want anything Apple because he thinks it too expensive, so I did research on android phones. From what I can see android 4.0 is really worth it but the only phone we could find was the Samsung Nexus which is sold at 160$, the same price has the iPhone 4s.

So we found the Galaxy II s at 0$ (special) and everything was set until another college at work who had one told him it didn't work well. I then did more research and found out the upgrade path from 2.3 to 4.0 was pretty blur, with no one knowing exactly when it would happen if at all, depending on models.

The co-worker need to buy 5 phones for all his family, so being able to get some at 0$ is a must. He went off for the holidays, can't wait to see what he did. He was thinking of maybe getting the iPhone 3 GS after all. The iPhone 4 16g was on sale at 0$ on boxing day too.

About the article, I am really curious to see the future impact of windows 8 on the mobile market.

Samsung has already announced in the next two months they will be releasing an update for the world version of the Galaxy S ii. The US versions are up to the carrier. The Galaxy S they are copping out on updating that because they think people love touch wiz to much. Truth is most of the people who have Galaxy Ss don't care. No one purchased an iPhone 4 in july of 2010 so they can have iCloud in 2011. People buy a phone for what it can do at the time of purchase anything else matters little to them. No one buys something for a feature it will do in the feature (Nevermind Motorola XOOM speaks otherwise but those where die hard android Zealots. They paid for an android tablet to proves that)

No one purchased an iPhone 4 in july of 2010 so they can have iCloud in 2011. People buy a phone for what it can do at the time of purchase anything else matters little to them. No one buys something for a feature it will do in the future

Thats not entirely true. Thats a big appeal I have to Apple and particularly their phones. People can claim their Android can do xyz that Apple can't do. But a year from now, there phone will be the same and do nothing different, and mine will have iOS6, and who knows what that will offer.

Its not the sole reason, and I agree, not a definitive one. But one that does weigh into the back of several purchasers minds when deciding what "brand" to purchase. One that offers ongoing support (see 1st gen iPod nano recall for example) and one that doesn't (see any Samsung phone 3 months after release).

Samsung has already announced in the next two months they will be releasing an update for the world version of the Galaxy S ii. The US versions are up to the carrier. The Galaxy S they are copping out on updating that because they think people love touch wiz to much. Truth is most of the people who have Galaxy Ss don't care. No one purchased an iPhone 4 in july of 2010 so they can have iCloud in 2011. People buy a phone for what it can do at the time of purchase anything else matters little to them. No one buys something for a feature it will do in the feature (Nevermind Motorola XOOM speaks otherwise but those where die hard android Zealots. They paid for an android tablet to proves that)

Maybe Android buyers don't expect their year old phone to get updated, but if Apple failed to release iOS 5 for the mid 2010 iPhone 4, its customers would be outraged. There was just a stink about how Apple had "only" updated the original iPhone to 3.x, and how that version (now two years old!) couldn't work with the latest iTunes apps for phone downloads (you can only buy new apps via iTunes, not on the phone.

That's a crisis in Apple land: not being able to run the latest stuff perfectly on your 5 year old phone. Among Android users, a 12 months and 2 weeks phone can't be upgraded to the next major release properly, and one of the more popular phones from last year isn't going to be offered an upgrade at all! Let alone the fact that popular phones are still being sold with year old versions of Android and will never be updated.

And no apps, no security, no new software features, doesn't work well to start with (Android browser is such crap Google won't even call it "Chrome"). The only reason to buy an Android phone is that you want experimental hardware (4G Galaxy Nexus eats battery so badly that the phone runs down WHILE PLUGGED INTO A CAR CHARGER!) or just like dancing green robots. Or you'd rather have a Home Page "widget" for email rather than a good email app.

In contrast, people who bought an iPad last year now have a device that outputs VGA and HDMI, multitasks, runs major new apps like iMovie and GarageBand, has actual 3D games you can play, and wirelessly beam videos to your HDTV, all features that weren't there when it launched.

It's kind of lame how the media downplays Apple and invents crisis and conflict out of thin air, while ignoring the fact that Android is a tinker-doodle pile of third rate junk ware that can't run apps, is riddled with malware and scam ware and ads, and is built by companies that willingly use the child labor and environmentally toxic factories Apple cuts its business relationships with.

What exactly is the religion pushing Android? At least Windows fans were after cheap hardware.

What exactly is the religion pushing Android? At least Windows fans were after cheap hardware.

From what I hear:

- Cheap hardware but hardware with SD expansions, USB.
- Open ecosystem. some don't like the fact Apple ecosystem is close to 1 app store control by Apple
- My brother in law who works in IT on android, but has an iPad and iPhone, don't like the fact there is not enough system utility tools available on iOS without having to jailbreak. But he is a super geek. The kind that plays with linux just for fun.

What i ear about why people don't choose apple:

- Price. Rarely on special. They make huge profit which means the consumer gets rip off. ( I own lots of AAPL so I don't mind this, the $$ returns to me anyway)
- Unable to change the batteries themselves on devices
- Impression they will be get caught in a close down environment.
- Piracy. Lots of people I know like to pirate software and feel they won't be able too do it on Apple machines. imo thats an old PC mindset because now lots of software is so cheap I don't see the reason to pirate software anymore.

- Price. Rarely on special. They make huge profit which means the consumer gets rip off. ( I own lots of AAPL so I don't mind this, the $$ returns to me anyway)
- Unable to change the batteries themselves on devices
- Impression they will be get caught in a close down environment.
- Piracy. Lots of people I know like to pirate software and feel they won't be able too do it on Apple machines. imo thats an old PC mindset because now lots of software is so cheap I don't see the reason to pirate software anymore.

-isn't a top end android $199? Same as an iphone 4S? Is there an android phone better than the iPhone 4 for $99?
-when your battery only lasts 3 hours, I understand the need to change it. I've yet to meet anyone who actually owns an iPhone say "boy- I wish I could change the battery". Seriously? Who carries an extra cell phone battery around? Weak.
-it's closed down. No doubt. You buy an app on apple, you have to use it on an iDevice. But it you buy an app on android you can use it on a blackberry? Oh... Wait. iTunes music isn't dmr anymore either, so that's not it. Again- weak.
-Piracy? Thought we were talking about ios not OSX. For the record, you can steal anything on OSX. It isn't hard.

So basically your reasonings are because people are ignorant and don't have a valid reason?
The real reasons would be:
-bigger screen
-4G marketing (an employees pushing it because "this phone has 4g")
-it's not an iPhone. There are people who like to stand out and be different just to be different.
-price- meaning they need free phones. But with the 3GS this defeats the purpose intellectually. Unfortunately, people hear "that phone is two years old", and think the "new" free android phone is better because it's new.

Microsoft, RIM, Nokia and HP combined released fewer updates for their users than Apple

Hmm. Odd since my wife's Nokia N8 has gotten four major updates within the year (http://www.developer.nokia.com/Commu...nge_logs#N8-00) .Also many of the inbuilt apps like maps etc. (which Apple updates in it's minor updates) have received multiple updates in the year. It can be argued that the Anna upgrade was the only "major" upgrade for the newer Symbian devices and the others are minor, but the again, what constitutes a major upgrade?

This is just one model from one of the mentioned manufacturers. In Nokia's case, you'd have to add at least four more OSs (S40, S60v5, S60v3 and Meego). So "combined released fewer updates" sounds a bit suspicious as it seems that the comparison is not apples to apples?

False: Android 4.0 updates to the Nexus S have been held up over technical issues. It wasn't made available right away, and isn't currently available. Also, it was originally released in the US mid Dec 2010, so describing it as "over a year old" is rather disingenuous.

It's insane that the Nexus S wouldn't get the next version of Android, which is the point. The absolute best case scenario (Google's own phone!!! Just turned 1 and only half way through its contract period!!!) and it still doesn't have ICS.

Everyone else is SOL, including the Nexus One and Samsung Galaxy S (which the company said it had sold 10 million of in 2010). This kind of customer-hating record is so pathetic it begs why someone would desperately try to offer up excuses for such incompetence.

Android fans just take the abuse and ask for more as they throw money at overpriced, imitative devices packed with proprietary software they call "open." It's like Apple fans, but stupider, lacking any class or basic reasoning skills, armed with far lower expectations, and a delusional self importance for supporting East Asian slave labor corporations that have no environment record or concern for human rights. Apparently all because it has a green robot on it.

Updates have been delayed.

That's all Android users will ever be assured.

Anything else is just android guesswork.

Hope you get next year's calculator...

Steve Job's vision was so forward thinking that he used to park in disabled spots before he became sick.

No one purchased an iPhone 4 in july of 2010 so they can have iCloud in 2011. People buy a phone for what it can do at the time of purchase anything else matters little to them. No one buys something for a feature it will do in the feature

I believe that is true, if somewhat overstated. IMO, very few phone customers think in terms of future updates - they buy the product based upon what it does/is at the time of purchase.

Evidence for this is the phenomenon of how few people, even Apple owners, upgrade to the best available iteration of the OS. Even when it is available to them. People don't care so much. If they like their phone, they don't screw around with "updates" that might change things to a confusing state.

That's a crisis in Apple land: not being able to run the latest stuff perfectly on your 5 year old phone.

Naw. A crisis in Appleland is when stats show that people choose Android phones 3 times for every iOS sale.

Back in the old days, 25% of the market for Apple would have been a major coup. But ever since the iPod, and especially now in the iPad era, the knowledge that the vast majority of customers reject Apple's products is something that the Faithful can't even quite grasp or believe.

Aw, c'mon. Give the guy a break. there is a kernel of truth to what he says.

In general, the article was informative and entertaining. IMO, in these articles, DED should focus more on Apple, and less on other ventures. Some topics cover Apple for one paragraph, and then go on and on and on about why everyone else sucks.

IOW, the topic should be "The Year in Apple" rather than anything else.

Don't get me wrong. I really want to see many more DED Feature articles. I really want him to have a platform to rant, which he does very very well.

In fact, I want to see lots of "Why Apple is Better and Everyone Else Sucks" articles. Maybe "The State of the Mobile OS: 2012" or "Why Apple's Update Policy is Better than Android's". Or even "Why Apple Customers are GREAT and Android Customers are Bums". Maybe "The Ethics of Android". Or "Why Nobody Else Can Make Stuff as Good as Apple Does".

DED could write great articles on those topics. He constantly tries to shoehorn those topics into articles where they don't belong. Instead, he should have a platform where he can address those topics directly.

I want to see him free to rant and scream and stomp his foot. I really do, because he is such an entertaining writer. If he is freed from any obligation to be balanced, to be objective or to be rational (as opposed to emotional) then he could write epic stuff.

DED is best when he is editorializing. He's passionate and informed. But the information is just the tip of the iceberg or the camel's nose - the passion is what needs to be featured in his articles, and when the topic matter is mere information, there is less room for his analysis.

P.S. And this, Soli, is why the Admins won't ban me, despite your frequent sniffling crying and tugging on their pants. I make plenty of serious posts, and I make good points. My kidding around and my pointing out fallacies stated by the faithful (in an entertaining manner, if I do say so myself) are OK, because of the kernel of truth which always exists. Much like DED's editorializing.

-Piracy? Thought we were talking about ios not OSX. For the record, you can steal anything on OSX. It isn't hard.
- So basically your reasonings are because people are ignorant and don't have a valid reason?

I am not "reasonings" anything, I am not the one coming up with those reasons, I ear them.

And I was talking about piracy on iOS/android, not OSX. I know people who jailbreak there iPhone to pirate 99 cents software, go figured. Me, I just watch the specials. For example, almost all EA iPad games were on sales this week at 99 cents. So a 10$ game for 99 cents paid 80 cents because I bought 50$ iTune cards for 39$ on special at FutureShop. imo people pirating mobile apps are real cheap.

Hmm. Odd since my wife's Nokia N8 has gotten four major updates within the year (http://www.developer.nokia.com/Commu...nge_logs#N8-00) .Also many of the inbuilt apps like maps etc. (which Apple updates in it's minor updates) have received multiple updates in the year. It can be argued that the Anna upgrade was the only "major" upgrade for the newer Symbian devices and the others are minor, but the again, what constitutes a major upgrade?

This is just one model from one of the mentioned manufacturers. In Nokia's case, you'd have to add at least four more OSs (S40, S60v5, S60v3 and Meego). So "combined released fewer updates" sounds a bit suspicious as it seems that the comparison is not apples to apples?

Why distort the facts, when there's no need for that?

Regs, Jarkko

Well bunching together a lot of incompatible, embedded non-smart phone OSes just to suggest that Nokia is better supporting its platform that apple is a pretty good example of "distorting the facts," particularly given that Nokia has put both Symbian and Meego out to pasture and has selected WP7 as its smartphone platform.

I'd imagine Nokia was just thrown in for historical reasons, as Symbian hasn't added any new useful features compatible to the progressive updates of iOS (AirPlay, AirPrint, iCloud, iMessages, FaceTime, and so on). Nokia updates, like RIM, are largely just tweaks to support new models or fixes for major bugs. Even Android hasn't seen major feature updates. It's more like Linux revisions; new versions of the open code paired with updates of Maps+Navigation and Goggles and G+ clients.

Well bunching together a lot of incompatible, embedded non-smart phone OSes just to suggest that Nokia is better supporting its platform that apple is a pretty good example of "distorting the facts," particularly given that Nokia has put both Symbian and Meego out to pasture and has selected WP7 as its smartphone platform.

I didn't suggest Nokia is better at supporting it's devices. My opinion is far from it. I just wanted to point out a glaring flaw/lie in the article. Also claiming Symbian is an embedded non-smartphone OS is a bit .... to say the least. Unless you meant S40.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corrections

I'd imagine Nokia was just thrown in for historical reasons, as Symbian hasn't added any new useful features compatible to the progressive updates of iOS (AirPlay, AirPrint, iCloud, iMessages, FaceTime, and so on). Nokia updates, like RIM, are largely just tweaks to support new models or fixes for major bugs. Even Android hasn't seen major feature updates. It's more like Linux revisions; new versions of the open code paired with updates of Maps+Navigation and Goggles and G+ clients.

There you go. What defines a minor or major upgrade? Since the comparison was not apples to apples, why make it at all? Just to get a warm fuzzy feeling by selecting a particular point that can be stated as "fact"? Symbian's Anna did bring major changes (speed & UX changes, OTA updates for example, rewritten Web experience and Email etc.). Belle brought NFC for example.

You could just as well (from the other side) say that Nokia (and android) have had printing, DNLA client and Server functionality, messaging, video calls, Wireless access point etc. for a long time so their updates didn't need to add Airplay, AirPrint, Facetime etc. Kind of like saying iOS had to do the updates to bring functionality inline with the competition. That again would be just as flawed as the article's comparison. By selecting your own definitions for an "minor and major update" to make your viewpoint seem more favourable is not very good article writing.

Aw, c'mon. Give the guy a break. There is a kernel of truth to what he says.

Not really. An opinion (like someone saying Apple is god-like and everyone else sucks) is different to factual information (like someone trying to argue green is actually blue or that the Windows 8 metro UI is a "layer of web apps").

There is history behind this. "Dilger" pounced on the "Windows 8 is just a layer of web apps" story after the initial announcement where Microsoft only mentioned HTML and JavaScript as programming options. From memory he even went as far as writing a story about it and how all the developers were pissed off with Microsoft.

Now that Microsoft have released more information it turns out Dilger's "Windows 8 is just a layer of web apps" position was incorrect.

He has two options. Either start presenting the facts (and contradict his earlier position) or stick his head in the sand and pretend that what he is saying is actually true.

" while Google's senior vice president of mobile Andy Rubin said in an interview that he doesn't "believe that your phone should be an assistant," adding that "your phone is a tool for communicating. You shouldnt be communicating with the phone; you should be communicating with somebody on the other side of the phone."

Anyone that would make a statement like this In this day and age should not be in anyway be connected with a technology firm. Especially a high tech cell phone maker. This is just completely asinine.